Munster face toughest Women’s Interpro test as Leinster visit Cork

TOUGH TEST: Munster Rugby Women's head coach Matt Brown speaks to his players. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom O'Hanlon.

Munster’s grip on their Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship crown will face the strongest of tests at Virgin Media Park on Saturday (2:30pm) as arch rivals Leinster arrive in Cork with revenge on their minds following last season’s heavy final defeat.

The 2025 campaign, conducted largely without any Ireland internationals available for any of the provinces ahead of last autumn’s World Cup, saw Leinster denied a hat-trick of consecutive titles as a Maeve Óg O’Leary-captained side swept all before them in the round-robin stages and then inflicted a 50-15 hammering on the defending champions in Dublin.

This season’s championship will be played out on very different terms as Ireland’s centrally-contracted players have all been made available to the provinces with selection for Scott Bemand’s squad for next month’s WXV Global Series matches on home soil up for grabs in the coming weeks.

While there is also plenty of new blood for the 2026 campaign, 10 players selected in Bemand’s most recent Ireland matchday squad, in the historic Aviva Stadium Six Nations clash with Scotland in May, will be in action for the round one interpro on Leeside, with Leinster possessing the lion’s share, eight players to two.

Ireland skipper Erin King and tighthead prop Linda Djougang bring their Test experience to the Leinster pack but the real danger for Munster lies behind the scrum with fly-half Dannah O’Brien, wings Robyn O’Connor and Vicky Elmes Kinlan and the formidable centre pairing of Eve Higgins and Aoife Dalton.

Munster head coach Matt Brown is all too wary of the threats Leinster will pose his team.

“I just think with the depth of player they've got, there's going to be quality across the board. Then with the internationals they've got, they've got some absolute superstars in there,” Brown said.

“Probably if I was to be concerned, we need to keep a hold of the game and exert ourselves physically because if it gets any way loose, I think that Leinster backline could be really dangerous.

“That's not to take away from the threats they've got up front but I just think there's a lot of exciting players there.

“Now look, we've got some of our own and I suppose there's a little bit of apprehension. You just want to make sure that we front up and deliver what we're capable of and not get overawed, but there should be enough experience.”

Brown’s Leinster counterpart Sana Govender, a former Munster pathways coach who started out at Skibbereen RFC, can number back-rower King, starting at No.8, among his six debutants in a side led for the first time by hooker Sarah Delaney.

Higgins will also make her first senior appearance for Leinster as she renews her international partnership Aoife Dalton in the centre, while O'Brien is named at 10 in partnership with scrum-half Jade Gaffney.

Robyn O'Connor will start at full-back with Elmes Kinlan and 2025 Leinster Women’s Player of the Year Maggie Boylan on the wings.

Munster can name an international trio of Siobhan McCarthy, Beth Buttimer and Eilís Cahill in their front row. Jane Clohessy makes her return from the arm injury which ruled her out of the Six Nations as she moves from flanker to join Clodagh O'Halloran in the second row while Ireland international flanker Grace Moore makes her debut at openside alongside blindside Sally Kelly and captain and No.8 O'Leary.

Munster have an all-Ireland international half-back partnership as scrum-half Emily Lane makes her first senior appearance in red alongside Enya Breen, who starts at fly-half.

There is a first senior cap on the right wing for former Leinster back and Ireland Sevens player Katie Corrigan while among the Munster replacements, there is a potential debut for Shannon loosehead Tuathla Ryan while full-back Ellen Boylan makes her return after a year out with an ACL injury.

MUNSTER: Aoife Corey (UL Bohemian); Katie Corrigan (Old Belvedere), Alana McInerney (UL Bohemian), Lucia Linn (UL Bohemian RFC), Chisom Ugwueru (UL Bohemian), Enya Breen (Blackrock College), Emily Lane (Blackrock College); Siobhan McCarthy (Railway Union), Beth Buttimer (UL Bohemian), Eilís Cahill (UL Bohemian); Clodagh O'Halloran (UL Bohemian), Jane Clohessy (UL Bohemian); Sally Kelly (Ennis), Grace Moore, Maeve Óg O'Leary (Blackrock College) – captain.

Replacements: Emma Dunican (UL Bohemian), Tuathla Ryan (Shannon), Alisha Flynn (Old Belvedere), Aoibhe O'Flynn (UL Bohemian), AnnaKate Cournane (Shannon), Abbie Salter-Townshend (UL Bohemian), Caitríona Finn (UL Bohemian), Ellen Boylan (Blackrock College).

LEINSTER: Robyn O'Connor (Old Belvedere); Maggie Boylan (Blackrock College), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere), Eve Higgins (Railway Union), Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow); Dannah O'Brien (Old Belvedere), Jade Gaffney (Old Belvedere); Caoimhe Molloy (Wicklow), Sarah Delaney (Blackrock College) – captain, Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere); Ruth Campbell (Old Belvedere), Kate Jordan (Blackrock College); Rosie Searle (Navan), Roisín Kinch (Tullow), Erin King (Old Belvedere).

Replacements: Emma Jane Wilson (PortDara Falcons), Hannah Wilson (Old Belvedere), Shona White (Navan), Alma Atagamen (Balbriggan), Aoife Corcoran (MU Barnhall), Alex Connor (Navan), Ellie O'Sullivan Sexton (Old Belvedere), Emma Tilly (Old Belvedere).

Referee: Siobhan Daly (IRFU).